In the east direction of Luoxian Town, there is a high-walled compound, which sits in the north and faces south, covering an extremely huge area. The steps of the courtyard gate are extremely high, counting from the bottom to the top, there are a total of 23 steps, each step is paved by huge bluestone slabs, these bluestone slabs can be seen at a glance, but there is not a single crack on them.

Walking up the steps, it is a huge square platform, there is a stone beast at each of the four corners of the platform, the stone beast shape is different, it is a snake, a tiger, a finch, a turtle, among the four heads, in addition to the tiger statue is in the form of a tiger roaring mountain forest, the other three beasts and snakes are entrenched and bowing their heads, the finch is bowing their heads and pecking rice, the stone turtle is the worst, it carries a boulder, the limbs are on the ground, and the head is weak and dying. I don't know if it's a coincidence, the direction of the head of the snake, the finch, and the turtle is lowered, which happens to be the direction of the stone tiger.

Inside the platform, in addition to the stone beast at the four corners, there is a huge Bagua diagram in the middle, and above the yin and yang fish of the Bagua diagram, there are two tall stone pillars, the stone pillars are in the shape of a sword frame, and a huge stone sword is erected. The stone sword is placed horizontally, in an east-west direction, and a huge bronze bell hangs on the tip of the sword. It's just that there is a strange place about the bronze bell, that is, it does not have a bell hammer used to strike the bell.

After walking through the platform, there are two large gates, with a total of 23 copper nails. There is a plaque above the gate, and the word "ancestral hall" is written on it.

This high-walled compound is the ancestral hall of the town.

The ancestral hall in Luoxian Town is not the same as other places. In the town, there are a total of twenty-four ancestral halls, and all of these twenty-four ancestral halls are located within this compound.

The 24 ancestral halls are not of ordinary size, but one of them is the largest, which is the ancestral shrine, which is located in the middle of the courtyard. The other twenty-three are of average size, they are distributed around the ancestral shrine in a semicircle, and the entrance is facing the ancestral shrine, which is a small ancestral hall.

The inside of the ancestral shrine is very large, the worship platform is extremely high, there are 23 tablets on the altar, but it is not a tablet of one family and one surname. Underneath the tablet, there is a smaller tablet, but this one is not used for blood food, because it is a large stone hammer. Beneath the stone hammer is a row of stone tables, covered with yellow silk, on which rows of tributes are placed.

In addition to the spiritual platform in the ancestral hall, there are rows of seats, there are not many seats, no matter the order, exactly three out of twenty.

The ancestral hall gate is facing the ancestral hall gate, in the meantime exactly twenty-three steps, although it is not long, but it is extremely wide, all paved with bluestone, extremely smooth.

In normal times, except for the old people who guard the ancestral hall, the residents of the town are not allowed to trespass, which also causes the ancestral hall to be very deserted. However, late this night, after the "ancestral bell" at the entrance of the ancestral hall was ringed, the entrance of the ancestral hall was full of people in a short period of time, and the inside and outside of the ancestral hall were hung with lanterns in a short period of time, and the candles with the thickness of each arm were lit, illuminating the inside and outside of the ancestral hall as bright as day.

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After Feng Ying woke up his son Li Nianfeng, he followed his son to the ancestral hall. After letting her son take the ancestral ritual vessel and ring the ancestral bell, she asked her son to move a chair for her, and placed it on the right hand side of the ancestral hall closest to the ancestral hall in the open space at the entrance of the ancestral hall, and began to close her eyes and recuperate, and Li Nianfeng returned the ritual "stone hammer", respectfully put three incense sticks on the ancestral hall, and then also moved a chair, which was placed at the door of the ancestral hall, facing the gate of the ancestral hall, he first bowed to the ancestral hall three times, and then sat down.

Soon after Li Nianfeng sat down, people began to come one after another, and after seeing Li Nianfeng sitting at the door of the ancestral hall, they all saluted Li Nianfeng first, and then stood aside, respectfully throughout the whole process, without saying a word.

After about half of Li Nianfeng's incense burned out, the open space outside the ancestral hall was basically full of people, and about forty or fifty chairs had been added to Feng Ying's hand and opposite. At this time, although the ancestral hall was full of people, Li Nianfeng did not speak, and no one below dared to speak, and the entire ancestral hall could be heard at this time.

After a while, the incense on Li Nianfeng in the ancestral hall had burned out, and after the last bit of incense ash fell into the incense burner, Li Nianfeng got up as if he had eyes behind him, and then turned around and knelt respectfully in front of the ancestral hall. As Li Nianfeng knelt down, all the men, women and children present in the ancestral hall knelt down with him, and then there were three kneeling and nine knocks, and there was no shortage of them.

After the salute, Li Nianfeng got up, and the people below got up with him, and only then did someone ask.

"Xiao Nian Feng, why is the ancestral bell you rang? Where's your dad? Could it be that your father called us here to pass on the throne to you? But in the middle of the night, it's a bit unruly, right? ”

The one who opened his mouth was an old man, with gray hair and beard, but his voice was very loud and full of energy.

After Li Nianfeng saw the old man, he hurriedly saluted, and said with a wry smile: "Third uncle, don't make fun of the kid, you also know that the town is not allowed to ring the ancestral bell unless it is a major event, and this time something really big happened." ”

Hearing Li Nianfeng say this, the third uncle also sighed and said, "Of course I know, but the big guys are here, but your father hasn't come forward until now, I'm afraid it's not appropriate, right?" ”

Li Nianfeng shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Third uncle, I can only tell you that our town is estimated to use the clan weapon again this time, and other things can only be explained to you when my father comes." ”

When the third uncle heard this, he was taken aback.

"So serious?"

Li Nianfeng nodded, with a wry smile on his face.

The third uncle's face was ugly, he turned his head, and shouted in a deep voice: "Anyone surnamed Li in the ancestral hall will go back to the old man, and call all the men in the family to me, remember, everything that can be notified must come and wait, and no one will be less, otherwise the clan rules will serve." ”

After the third uncle finished shouting, nearly half of the people in the ancestral hall suddenly disappeared, and these people were in a hurry, but they did not make the slightest noise.

After the third uncle finished speaking, someone asked: "Nian Feng, apart from your Li family, do we need to have other surnames?" ”

Li Nianfeng saluted to the person who spoke, and then said, "Don't use it for the time being, how to arrange it later, I need to wait for my father to come back." ”

After Li Nianfeng finished speaking, before the person could ask again, Feng Ying spoke on the side.

"Patriarchs, don't ask yet, what is the specific matter, let's wait for my husband to come."

Since Feng Ying has spoken, no one has spoken.

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There are five short streets and three long alleys between Yuanrentang and the ancestral hall, this distance is not long, it is not short, when Li Chengyuan and Liu Yunyi rushed to the ancestral hall with Song Gui and others, it was just when the people surnamed Li were arranged by the third uncle to go back to call people.

Li Chengyuan looked at the Li family members who came out of the ancestral hall, and said to Liu Yunyi with some embarrassment: "Patriarch Liu, do you want to call them back and replace them with people from your Liu family?" ”

Liu Yunyi didn't think about it, shook his head and said: "Don't, let's let the people of the Li family come, I can still trust your Li Chengyuan's character." ”

Li Chengyuan thought for a while, nodded and said, "That's okay, I won't stop them, don't worry, if it was really Li Aniu who did it, I would never spare him." ”

Liu Yunyi nodded, looked at the ancestral hall, and then said, "Then you can arrange the rest of the matter first, I'll go in first." ”

Li Chengyuan nodded, Liu Yunyi turned around and began to go up the steps, but when he walked up the fourth step, Liu Yunyi stumbled slightly.

Li Chengyuan didn't look at Liu Yunyi, he instructed Song Gui: "You make arrangements, let these people wait below, and you find two people to go up with me with the four people who witnessed what happened." ”

After hearing the order, Song Gu hurriedly nodded in agreement, and immediately began to pick people.

After arranging Song Gui's side, Li Chengyuan turned his head and said to Li Tiansheng again: "Li Tiansheng, you go up with me, when you get to the top, you must tell the truth and explain to me what happened, if I learn that you are talking nonsense in front of your ancestors, I will definitely not be able to spare you." ”

Li Tiansheng was a little worried, but after hearing Li Chengyuan's warning, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat, and he hurriedly assured Li Chengyuan.

"Patriarch, don't worry, I will never dare to tell a lie."

Li Chengyuan snorted coldly and began to walk towards the ancestral hall with Li Tiansheng, Song Gui and others.

After arriving at the gate of the ancestral hall, Li Chengyuan asked Li Tiansheng and Song Gui to stop, and he walked in alone.

After Li Chengyuan entered the ancestral hall, he didn't speak all the way, and he didn't make any other moves, he went straight to the door of the ancestral hall, and when he arrived here, Li Chengyuan spoke: "The patriarchs of all ethnic groups followed me into the ancestral hall to enter the ancestral hall for incense, and the ancestral hall opened the main gate." ”

After Li Chengyuan finished speaking, he took the lead into the ancestral hall, and behind him, nineteen old people stood up and walked into the ancestral hall with him.

Song Heqi, as the head of the Song family, came to the ancestral hall as soon as the ancestral bell was ringed, and among the more than 40 seats in front of the ancestral hall, there was one of him, and it was very forward. It's just that the town has rules that the patriarchs of all clans are not allowed to be big families in the town, so although Song Heqi is the head of the Song family, he is not the patriarch of the Song family

Seeing Li Chengyuan take the lead into the ancestral hall, a trace of jealousy flashed in Song Heqi's eyes, but no one present cared.

Soon after Li Chengyuan walked into the ancestral hall with the patriarchs of various ethnic groups, the gate of the ancestral hall was opened, a total of twenty-three, and there was a chair behind each door, which corresponded to the twenty-three tablets of the ancestral hall, but although there were twenty-three seats, there were only nineteen people on the seats.

After the ancestral shrine was opened, Li Chengyuan's voice came out.

"Patriarchs, today I asked Nian Feng to ring the ancestral bell because there was a big incident in our town."

When Li Chengyuan spoke, there was silence, he first hugged his fist at Liu Yunyi and saluted, and then continued to speak.

"There is a person named Liu Mashen in the descendants of the Liu family, who was killed today, and I have already let people take the body to the ancestral hall. I called everyone here today for this purpose. ”

After Li Chengyuan finished speaking, the pot suddenly exploded, and several patriarchs around him also exchanged heads with each other.

"In front of the ancestors, there must be no noise."

Not long after the discussion began, an old man dressed as a servant immediately scolded him, and the people below quickly quieted down after seeing who this old man was.

The old man glanced at Li Chengyuan, Li Chengyuan nodded, and began to talk about things.

"At the beginning of the establishment of our Luoxian Town, there were a total of twenty-three ancestors, and the ancestors had set layers of rules, although these rules have changed many times over the years, but one of them has never changed, that is, 'the residents of the town, no matter what clan or surname, all those who commit suicide will be killed with clan weapons'. Now that someone has been killed, I invite you to come to the ancestral hall late at night, just to ask you to judge this matter together, and once you have determined who the murderer is, please leave the family weapon, and ask you to be a witness. ”

After Li Chengyuan finished speaking, he took the lead in getting up and saluted the clan elders below, and after Li Chengyuan saluted, the other eighteen patriarchs got up and saluted at the same time, and the clan elders below hurriedly got up and saluted back.

After the ceremony, Li Chengyuan shouted loudly: "Ancestors bless." ”

The others shouted in unison, "Ancestor bless." ”